(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for adding filler materials to a conjugated polymer matrix. More particularly, this invention relates to such a process in which the integrity and cohesiveness of the resulting composite is retained throughout extreme and/or repetitive shape changes of the filler and/or polymer.
(2) Prior Art
Conjugated backbone polymers, e.g., polyacetylene, polyphenylene, polyacenes, polythiophene, poly(phenylene vinylene), polyazulene, poly(phenylene sulfide), polyphenyleneazomethine poly(phenylene oxide), polythianthrene, poly(N-methylcarbazole) poly(phenylquinoline), polyaniline, and polypyrrole, have been suggested for use in a variety of applications based upon their characteristic of becoming conductive when oxidized or reduced either chemically or electrochemically. The secondary battery application described by, e.g. MacDiarmid et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,114, (1981); J. de Physique, Colloque C3, Vol. 44 (1983), articles beginning on page 579, page 615 and page 537; and K. Kaneto et al., Japanese J. of Applied Physics, Vol. 22, pp. L567-L568 (September 1983) and pp. L412-L414 (July 1983), employs one or more electrodes having conjugated backbone polymers as the electroactive material. Such electrodes can, for example, be reversibly complexed with alkali metal or tetraalkylammonium cations during battery cycling, most commonly with insertion of cations into a polymer anode (the negative battery electrode) occurring during charging. The more such cations are inserted, the more conductive the electrode becomes and the more cathodic the potential of the anode becomes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,492 discloses electrochemical cells having an anode consisting essentially of lithium aluminum alloys that contain lithium in amounts between about 63% and 92% and the balance essentially aluminum. Anodes composed of lithium and aluminum are also disclosed in Rao, et al., J. Electrochem. Soc. 124, 1490 (1977), and Besenhard, J. Electroanal. Chem., 94, 77 (1978).
European Patent No. 0070107 Al; Murphy et al., J. Electrochem. Soc., 126, 349 (1979) and Murphy et al., Mat. Res. Bull., 13, 1395 (1978) disclose batteries based on lithium intercalation in layered transition metal dichalcogenides.
Composite structures of a conjugated backbone polymer and a non-electroactive material have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,304 and in the above J. de Physique issue, articles beginning on page 137 and on page 151. Representative other components that have been blended with polyacetylene or onto which polyacetylene or polypyrrole has been deposited include polyethylene, polystyrene, graphite, carbon black, NESA glass and silicon. In selected instances, such composite structures have been suggested for use in batteries, (see Showa Denko K.K, European Published Patent Application 76,119 (1982)).